Thailand sends 345 boat people back into the open sea

Since last Tuesday, Thailand's navy stopped at least 345 Burmese boat people from reaching the shore. They were sent back into the open sea in their overcrowded boats, reported the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen on Monday. "Thailand continues to violate international humanitarian laws with this inhumane refugee policy, because it deliberately takes the refugees' deaths into account," said the STP's expert on questions regarding Asia, Ulrich Delius. The Navy did supply drinking water and food for the Rohingya boat people from Burma, but the boats were absolutely overloaded and not seaworthy. At least 1,700 members of the Muslim minority – who are being discriminated against in Burma – have tried to escape to Thailand by sea since the beginning of the year.

On Sunday, a boat with 145 Rohingya had tried to land at the island of Koh Mook (Trang province) to the south of the popular tourist destination Phuket. The refugees, who had been out of food supplies and drinking water for two days, were given some relief supplies and then sent back into the open sea by Thailand's navy. Last Tuesday, a refugee boat with about 200 Rohingya tried to land at the island of Racha Noi, near Phuket. These refugees were also rejected and sent back into the open sea. Thai authorities justified the rejection by stating that there are not enough refugee facilities.

"Thailand's inhumane refugee policy is a serious setback for the human rights situation in the ASEAN states," said Delius. On November 18, 2012, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had formally signed a human rights declaration that is controversial because of its many exceptions. "It seems as if human rights issues don't have priority in the ASEAN states," criticized Delius.

On January 25, 2013, the government of Thailand had decided to allow a stay of six months for Rohingya refugees from the beginning of year onwards. Before, human rights organizations and various government representatives had sharply criticized Thailand’s rejection of the Rohingya boat people. At the time, the Thai government had declared to want to use the temporary deportation ban to negotiate with Burma to find a solution for the Rohingya issue.

About 4400 Rohingya managed to escape to Thailand since November 2012 – mostly by sea. In Burma, the 600,000 Muslim minority families are being discriminated against and are not recognized as regular citizens.